Plastics are made from non-renewable natural resources such as crude oil, gas and coal. According to the 2002 Nolan ITU Report for Environment Australia on Plastic Shopping Bags - Analysis of Levies and Environmental Impacts; just 8.7 plastic checkout bags contain enough embodied petroleum energy to drive a car 1 kilometre.
Plastic bags are recyclable. If plastic is not recycled, this embodied energy is lost from the resource chain.
- See more at: http://www.cleanup.org.au/au/Campaigns/plastic-bag-facts.html#sthash.VfX6BtcU.dpuf